The return from Egypt to Nazareth – Matthew 2:19-23

After King Herod died, an angel of the Lord told Joseph to take Mary and Jesus back home to the land of Israel.

Jesus would have been between two and five years old.

Joseph found that one of King Herod’s sons, Archelaus, was ruling in his place in Judea and he was a very bad ruler and told in a dream, to go to Nazareth of Galilee. So, it was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, “Jesus will be called a Nazarene” even though He was born in Bethlehem.

Background Reading: The Return from Egypt

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus, who ruled from 4BC to AD6, was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”Matthew 2:19-23